Riley, K. L., and Chastagner, G. A. 2011. First report of Phytophthora ramorum infecting mistletoe in California. Online. Plant Health Progress doi:10.1094/PHP-2011-0209-02-BR.
Read the article here.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Monday, February 7, 2011
An Ecological Approach to Sudden Oak Death Prevention
In workshops offered recently by Hidden Villa, ecologist Lee Klinger demonstrated ways to prevent Sudden Oak Death. If you've driven through our hills and noticed whole oaks turned brown and dead, you may be looking at an example of this blight on our oak trees.
Klinger's method mimics the effects of forest fires. His theory is that oaks are fire-adapted and thus need periodic fires to remain healthy.
“Fire replenishes minerals, removes competition and reduces sources of acidity such as mosses and lichens.” With Sudden Oak Death, the plant pathogen, phytophthora ramorum, attacks the trees through the trunks.
To mimic the effects of forest fires, he recommends cutting back underbrush that crowds the tree, removing mosses and lichens from the trunk of the oaks, spraying the tree trunk with lime, adding minerals to the soil and topping with compost and mulch.
Read more in the Los Altos Patch
Klinger's method mimics the effects of forest fires. His theory is that oaks are fire-adapted and thus need periodic fires to remain healthy.
“Fire replenishes minerals, removes competition and reduces sources of acidity such as mosses and lichens.” With Sudden Oak Death, the plant pathogen, phytophthora ramorum, attacks the trees through the trunks.
To mimic the effects of forest fires, he recommends cutting back underbrush that crowds the tree, removing mosses and lichens from the trunk of the oaks, spraying the tree trunk with lime, adding minerals to the soil and topping with compost and mulch.
Read more in the Los Altos Patch
Red alert in Britain's forests as Black death sweeps in
Just before Christmas, you could stand at the top of Crynant Forest in South Wales and not have a clue that there was a village in the valley below. Today, the view down to the little white houses is uninterrupted. Where in mid-December there were thousands of larch trees, now there is a mass of stumps and branches.
Read the rest of the article in The Telegraph. Ignore the parts about P. ramorum being "a lethal virus from Asia".
Read the rest of the article in The Telegraph. Ignore the parts about P. ramorum being "a lethal virus from Asia".
Sudden Oak Death Plus Wildfire: A Natural Experiment
From Oregon to Big Sur, potentially millions of trees have been killed by Sudden Oak Death, or SOD. In 2006 and 2007, researchers from UC Davis set up a large-scale study in the coastal forests near Big Sur to examine the spread of the disease and its impact on forest dynamics. The area was one of the first to be affected by SOD. Members of the Rizzo Lab at UC Davis had established 280 plots across the region, carefully counting and measuring each tree and checking for SOD infection. Then, in June 2008, the Basin Complex Fire ripped through Big Sur, burning over 95,000 hectares of forest. By the time the fire was contained, over a month after it began, one third of the team’s plots were crisp and blackened.
Read more: KQED QUEST Community Science Blog
Read more: KQED QUEST Community Science Blog
Forget trees, Welsh uplands needed for growing food
BRITAIN’S hill and upland areas could be the answer to tackling the growing threat of food shortages, according to a Mid Wales beef and sheep farmer.
John Pugh is calling on the Assembly Government to reconsider its ambitious tree planting strategy, which aims to create 100,000ha of new woodlands over the next 20 years, mainly on marginal hill land.
And he said any plantations cleared to combat Sudden Oak Death should be returned to farmland rather than replanted.
John Pugh is calling on the Assembly Government to reconsider its ambitious tree planting strategy, which aims to create 100,000ha of new woodlands over the next 20 years, mainly on marginal hill land.
And he said any plantations cleared to combat Sudden Oak Death should be returned to farmland rather than replanted.
More news articles from the Capital Press
Nurseries get proactive in researching issues August 19, 2010
Researchers have begun taking the offense against the many issues the nursery industry faces.
Marc Teffeau, director of research and regulatory affairs for the American Nursery and Landscape Association, said his association has transformed research to look toward the future, anticipating issues and not always playing a defensive game.
South Carolina abandons nursery rules April 22, 2010
South Carolina has abandoned regulations that hindered nursery stock shipments from the West Coast, capitulating to demands from California and Oregon nursery groups.
On April 19, South Carolina regulators withdrew regulations aimed at preventing the spread of Phytophthora ramorum, or sudden oak death, into the state, according to court documents.
The regulations, enacted in 2009, imposed additional inspection and notification requirements on nursery shipments from areas afflicted by the fungal pathogen.
SOD host notification required
The USDA as of March 1 will require nurseries in certain counties of Oregon, Washington and California to provide advance notice to receiving states when shipping some sudden oak death host material.
Read the rest of the article in the Capitol Press
Read the rest of the article in the Capitol Press
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